In this video I explore The U.S. Virgin Islands on my Princess Cruises Stop in St. Thomas. The original plan was to take a shuttle to Magen's Bay on the north side of St. Thomas but after over hearing a group mention that they heading to St. John to visit a place called Trunk Bay, I changed my plans.
One of the great things about the USVIs is that you have excellent cell coverage since you are in a US territory. It was easy to look up pictures of Trunk Bay before I committed to the trip. For those that plan to venture to St. John from St. Thomas you will want to take a ferry from Redhook to Cruz Bay. Round trip tickets will cost you about $18.00 USD. Upon arriving at Cruz Bay you will find several Safari-style taxi trucks that will get you to your Beach destination of choice. For around $10-$20 you can enjoy an open-air ride along the coast. Be sure to have your camera out as the views are awesome. After about 1.5 hours of travel from the cruise ship we finally arrived at the US Virgin Islands National Park. As we exited the safari truck I could tell this was a good choice. The park has lots of tropical plants and palm trees complete with a snorkel gear rental shop right at the entrance.
Don't be surprised if the first sight of the beach takes your breath away. This place is majestic... A true paradise. I was seriously in awe of the natural beauty and I couldn't wait to get in the water. This may sound lame but the warmth and natural beauty of this beach is almost spiritual. For any corporate 9-5'ers that grind away their lives in a stuffy office building, this place just really sets your soul free.
Once I entered the turquoise water I knew I was in for a great snorkel session. For the more experienced swimmers I highly recommend you swim about 200 yards around the bend to the right and explore the less populated reef by the cliff. There was no other swimmers over on that side, just pristine untouched reef with a huge variety of fish. I was in heaven. At one
point I just rested on the surface of the water looking down at the virgin untouched reef and I had to pinch myself. It was so surreal. The ocean was speaking to me and it was saying, "Tyler, you need to leave those cold rocky mountains and come live close to me! LOL!" I have not quite been able to make this happen but I'm working on it.
After a return to the beach I made the trek back to the cruise ship and arrived 5 minutes before departure. So glad I made it back. I hope to visit again soon. I really enjoyed my time in the USVIs.
I can not recommend this place enough. It was such a wonderful place to discover.
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#trunkbay #usvi #stjohn #snorkeling
